Seattle, WA (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres finally pulled the trigger on a Jack Eichel trade on Thursday morning, sending him to the Vegas Golden Knights. Buffalo did get draft picks in return, but the two players they received were Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch.
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Tuch is going to be out a few more months following shoulder surgery, but he told general manager Kevyn Adams that becoming a member of the Sabres is a dream come true for him.
When addressing the media on Thursday after the trade, Adams reminded everyone that there was never any timeline to make a deal involving Eichel.
“There was never a pressure point where we felt it had to be done by a certain time," Adams said. "We were going to do this when we felt that it was the right time with the best return.”
For months, no team in the NHL was willing to part with their best prospect to acquire Eichel. From the start of trade talks, the Sabres had targeted Krebs and Vegas kept saying no.
“What I felt strongly about is we were not going to be backed into a corner or make a deal that we felt was not going to be right for us, regardless of any external pressure," Adams explained of the process. "Absolutely Peyton Krebs was someone we had targeted. That was really important to us, and it wasn’t easy. We weren’t going to compromise on what we needed.”
Adams feels both Tuch and Krebs are players that will be a part of their young core.
Adams confirmed a team policy on Thursday that we’ve been talking about for over a year - they aren’t going to put long-term dead money on the salary cap.
“Salary retention was an absolute non-starter from the beginning with us. That we would not compromise on,” Adams said when asked about not retaining any of Eichel's salary in a trade.
With Eichel's trade complete, the Sabres have completely changed the complexity of the team compared to last season. This adds to the other moves made by Adams at the 2021 NHL Draft when he also traded Sam Reinhart to the Florida Panthers and Rasmus Ristolainen to the Philadelphia Flyers.
“They’re excellent hockey players and they’re excellent people, but we had to identify how we were going to move this franchise forward. We need to build around players that want to be here, that are buying in and are all-in, and that was an important part of this,” Adams said.
So why didn’t things work for Eichel as a member of the Sabres?
“He shared with me that he was ready to… it was just a frustration to him that was well built over time, and that’s where he got to," Adams said of his conversations with Eichel. "I was very clear to him that we need to build this organization with people that are dying to be Buffalo Sabres, that care so much about the jersey and that’s how we have to move forward.”
Adams wouldn’t say if Eichel ever asked to be traded.
There were strong rumors out there Wednesday night the Calgary Flames were offering Matthew Tkachuk as part of a package to Buffalo. Adams said that report was not accurate.
Despite playing with the Golden Knights at the time of the trade on Thursday, Adams said that Krebs is going straight to the Rochester Americans.
“It’s making sure we set him up for success," Adams explained of the decision. "He could be jumping into our lineup tonight and playing, but our focus is the hockey player he’s going to become over time. In our mind, for him, it’s just catch your breath, get your feet under you a little bit, get used to the organization and when it’s the right time, he’ll be here and be here for a long time.”
The Sabres play their first-ever game against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night. Be sure to join Brian Koziol at 9 p.m. ET for pregame coverage on WGR.
